The Strings of Fate
by fantastical writer
Summary: This is a retelling of the Freezeman attack. A girl, a wanderer, and a scientist all struggling to survive as the city dies around them. (This is starting as a one off, but i have an entire story in my head if this first chapter does well)


Hello world I am back, out of school, and a somewhat functioning adult. So this might be a full story, or it's just going to be this one chapter, I'm just going to see where it goes, but the story has been in my head for a long time now. Let me know what you think!

I don't own Megaman.

 **THE GIRL**

"You need to find shelter now, this storm is getting worse!" A muffled voice called out from my hip as I continued to trudge through the ever deepening snow. I had been wandering for hours in the frozen city. I started out with the purpose of finding the root of this problem, now I was just desperate to find shelter.

"Everything is frozen shut Ange…" I replied weakly to my netnavi, Angelman. It was the middle of July and today was supposed to be the hottest day of the year, and here I was freezing my ass off in the middle of a blizzard. The storm had come out of nowhere too. It had just been an average day; too hot and too humid. Then the temperature started to plummet and this storm rolled in.

I was hardly dressed for the occasion too; my blue jeans and black sneakers were soaked through and starting to get stiff from the cold, and my black t-shirt and purple plaid button up were doing little to protect me from the elements. My long blond hair was soaked and matted with snow and loosely tied back in a ponytail.

"Margaret look! Over there I can see lights." Angelman called out suddenly.

"How can you see anything? You're in the holster." I said back, trying to get my mind off the cold. I couldn't feel my legs anymore and it was getting hard to walk. I looked around and saw what he was talking about. Down the next block I could see the yellow glow of some little restaurant. Oddly enough it was the only one without a sheet of ice in front of it. Mustering the last of my strength I adjusted my path and started to walk towards it, hoping that I would make it.

 **THE SCIENTIST**

 _'This isn't happening…'_

It was the middle of summer and as far as I could see there was only a frozen wasteland. The city off in the distance didn't look like it was faring too well either, I couldn't see any lights or other signs of life. All I could think about was my family. They were out there somewhere; my wife and son. I had been calling them over and over, but nothing was getting through; everything was dead. We had lost power a while ago, and were running off of generators at this point. But I knew that they wouldn't last forever.

"Why is this happening?" I sighed, taking my glasses off to rub my eyes wishing things to be normal when I opened them back up. They weren't; the same desolate wasteland was still there. "Takes me back to my time in Sharo…"

I needed to remind myself that my family wasn't the only ones that I needed to worry about right now; I've had every scientist in SciLab to think about. I put my glasses back on and gave myself a hard look using the window reflection. I nervously ran my hand through my hair; I could hear Haruka in the back of my mind saying that I'll go bald if I keep doing that. That made me smile for a moment.

 _'I hope she's ok.'_ I thought to myself looking back out on the world.

The lights above started to flicker; making my heart drop down to my stomach. I couldn't waste any more time, I turned on my heal and walked out of my office to the nearest stair well.

' _Once the power goes out they're all going to be looking to me to keep them alive.'_

It was a long walk to the basement of Silver Tower, the fifth building in the Silver complex. It wasn't much of a tower more so just a very large building; no one had the heart to change the name given that it was all built on the ashes of the original Silver Tower.

The lights continued to flicker on and off as I made my way to the basement. I figured it wouldn't hurt to start turning them off every time I walked by a switch; buy us a few extra seconds of power.

 _'Please, don't let the generators die. If they go that's our death sentence.'_

It wasn't just them in Silver Tower who were in danger. The other labs on the campus had people trapped in them too. Right before the power went out all the buildings went into lock down; no one could get in or out until full power was restored. I was trying to not look at this as an attack on the labs, but as it got colder I couldn't help but get suspicious. I wanted to believe that it was just a malfunction at the worst possible time; I didn't want to believe that our time of peace was already at an end.

"What's happening?" I asked, walking into the utilities room. There were already a few people there looking into the problem.

"D-doctor Hikari! Well it seems that the generators are starting to fail, the cold is proving to be too much for them." One of them said nervously.

 _'I can't stand people talking to me like I'm different than them._ _I just want to be treated like everyone else.'_ But it came with being the head scientist so there's not much I could do about it, especially now.

"Stop messing around with it, there's no saving them at this point. We need to gather everyone up and just wait this out." I said trying to hide my fear. Without the generators I was going to lose communication with the outer labs, the heat will shut down and we'll all freeze to death. "Have everyone meet in conference room 24. Grab anything to huddle up in."

"Y-yes sir!"

 _'I need to get to one of the radios before the power goes out, I need to warn them.'_

I made my way up to the lobby, it was the only other place I could think where a radio would be and it was a lot closer than my office. After some searching I found it buried under the receptionist desk. I pulled it out and put it on top of the counter and glanced out the doors. I couldn't even see out the glass doors to the outer labs. The snow was piled up so high against the building; at a second glance I could see the glass cracking under the weight. I let out a sigh as I ran my hand threw my hair trying to compose myself.

"Is there anyone there? Over." I called out a couple of times, hoping that the transmission was making it through to someone.

"Yes! Hello, this is Dr. Evens. Over." A voice said faintly

"Hello, I'm sorry to be the one to bare the news but the generators are failing over here. We expect to lose power any moment. I would highly suggest getting everyone into one space over there, hopefully this storm will pass. Over." I said, my voice slightly shaking. I was trying to not think that soon this man along with everyone else over there was going to be dead. The outer labs were hardly weather proof, at least at this time of year. The winter shutters were all open so the buildings were completely exposed, and being glass on the outside meant that any heat that was being pumped into them was quickly dissipating.

"Copy that, thank you for the heads up. Over and out." The voice said sadly.

I put the radio down as a wave of helplessness washed over me. I kept telling myself that there was nothing that I could do for them, but they also weren't completely helpless. They were SciLab scientists; they could take care of themselves. I looked up at the sound of the entire building powering down. The lobby that had been so bright and sunny this morning became very dark and cold instantly. Panic gripped my mind; I thought of my loved ones and friends being out there somewhere, trapped in this. I even thought of him for a moment, traveling the world for so long out of grief; grief that I caused. I felt a little bit better; knowing that at least one person I cared about was safe.

 _'At least he's safe and not stuck in this; I just wish I could have seen him one last time.'_

 **THE WANDERER**

"First day home in years and this is what I get. Just my luck." I said quietly to myself, not knowing how to react to a frozen city in July. High ground was hard to come by; all the buildings were frozen shut or buried under snow. The best I could do was climbing up lamp posts to just get a better street view. I knelt back down, feeling myself starting to lose my balance. "Almost all my netnavies are frozen somewhere on the net and I'm left with a soulless navi that's uncontrollable."

I slid back down into the snow, my knees giving out when I hit the solid ground. My hair was soaked and flat against my head with little snow balls matted into it, I found myself with the sudden urge to cut it off. My black jeans were soaked and starting to freeze and my orange and red t-shirt was clinging to my chest; doing very little to keep me warm. My white lab coat was heavy on my shoulders and starting to become a burden; everything was heavy and dragging me down, I had been out in the storm for far too long.

I made my way over to the next block to find another lamp post to climb up on, all the while looking up at the dark buildings; wondering if the people inside were alright. I was so tired, part of me just wanted to lie down in the snow and give up; but the other part wanted to stop Grave at all costs. It wasn't my intention to come home, I had just been following a netnavi named Freezeman and this just happened to be where I lost his signal. But it was good timing; I was tired of the road and ready to be home, once I saved it of course.

 _'I've also got to find him. I wonder if he's forgiven me yet'_

"Maybe this time…" I said quietly walking up to a lamp post, trying to find any shred of hope to keep myself going. My fingerless gloves were doing nothing to keep my hands warm, but they at least provided a little protection from the frozen polls. I took my coat off; the weight was too much at this point. I climbed up to the top, slower every time, and balanced on the light so I could stand up straight and get a good look around. My legs started to feel strange, shaky almost and it was making it hard for me to find my balance and stand up. Standing wasn't my only problem; it was getting hard to see through my glasses. I rubbed my arm across my face in an attempt to brush the snow and water off the lenses realizing that I could barely feel it; then I saw it. Further down the road I could see the glow of lights; I felt some of my strength return in this new found hope.

I slid back down the poll and put my coat back on and started to make my way down the street.

 **MARGARET**

I was getting closer and closer to the lights, but every step I took became more of a struggle. My body was becoming too heavy to move and exhaustion was winning the internal struggle. But I still moved on, I wanted to live so badly and that was what drove me to make it to the door of the little curry shop. I put all my weight on the door and it swung open and I fell in, collapsing on the floor. It was so warm, and the few people inside were so startled that I couldn't help but start laughing.

"Hey are you ok? Zap help me get her in. She's soaked…" A pink haired woman said above me, wrapping her arm around my chest and dragging me into the shop before anyone could help her.

"Maddy don't ask for help if you don't need it." Said a blond haired man in a British accent; standing behind the counter. Next to him was a very slim and dark skinned man. All three of them were in white t-shirts and blue jeans with grey aprons on. "I'll go see if we have anything she can change into…"

"Excellent idea, I in the meantime will put on some hot water. There is another one on their way here." The dark skinned man said in a thick accent.

"Way to be a creep Yahoot. And that sensing life energy is bullshit just drop the act, you didn't sense her when she was on her way here." The woman named Maddy said, standing back up and putting her hands on her hips; Yahoot ignored her as he walked out of sight.

I managed to pull myself up in a sitting position on the floor. I reached down to my hip to where I kept my PET, hoping that it was ok despite the holster being soaking wet.

"Angelman you ok?" I asked my netnavi, the screen was black and there was no response. I knew that the battery was charged this morning; it must have gotten too wet. I swore quietly and put it down on the ground, not sure what to do with it at the moment.

"Here, put it in this." The man named Yahoot said walking over to me with a ziplock bag full of rice, "the rice will draw the moisture out; it might be enough to save your PET."

"Thank you very much." I said accepting the rice from him. I put my PET in the bag and sealed it shut, hoping that it would work. I pulled myself up and sat down at the counter, bag of rice in front of me. Yahoot put a mug of tea down in front of me, it looked so inviting but I held myself back, not wanting to scald my mouth on the hot liquid.

"Here see if these fit. We've got a dryer we can throw your clothes in." The man they called Zap said coming out from the back of the kitchen. He was holding a pair of blue jeans and a white t-shirt. "If you want to come around I'll show you where you can change."

I got up and followed him to the bathroom past the small kitchen. There was a set of stairs leading up to what I could only guess were apartments where they lived. Maddy came crashing down the stairs right as I was heading in, a bra and underpants in her hands. She threw them at me and winked; I just blushed in return.

The dry clothes were the best thing to have ever happen to me, the feeling was a lot like when you change out of a wet bathing suit into street clothes but so much better. I looked myself over in the mirror; I looked horrible. The clothes were baggy on my slim frame and I was white as a ghost everywhere except my face which was bright red. Maddy was waiting for me outside the bathroom with a laundry basket. I gave her my wet clothes and she shot me a smile; but there was something strange in her eyes, she looked sad for a moment. I made my way back into the restaurant and took my seat at the counter, sipping on my tea.

"I thought you said someone else was coming Yahoot." Zap said from somewhere in the kitchen, "it's been twenty minutes and no one has walked through that door. Hell everyone is probably dead at this point."

"That's enough," Yahoot said without looking up from his curry pots, "he's struggling, but he's almost here."

"I hope Match is ok," Maddy said quietly walking back into the shop; looking out the doors, "he's all alone back at the storage house."

"When this all started I went to him and told him to come back but he refuses to leave Torchman." Yahoot said sadly.

"A friend of yours?" I asked as I shifted the rice over my PET to cover it better.

"Yes, he works here as well but his navi is breaking apart and he's been trying to save him." Maddy replied sitting down next to me, "there's no saving Torchman, but he's so stubborn."

"I'm sorry." I mumbled finishing off my tea, almost spitting it out in shock as the door to the shop slammed open.

"At this rate that door is going to shatter…" I heard Yahoot mumble, still not looking up.

I spun around and looked at the man, who was still standing in the door way, it looked like he was fighting to stay on his feet. His hair was matted and sticking to his face and his cloths were frozen stiff. Maddy ran over to him and got an arm around him to support him. The man went limp almost instantly and Zap ran out from the kitchen to give her a hand.

"Sit him down at the counter. Zap go get him some dry clothes." Yahoot said walking around bending down next to the man to see if he was still conscious. He pulled the man's coat off; it looked like a lab coat of sorts. Maddy ran back into the kitchen and came out with a small towel and, began to dry his hair off.

The man put his hand up to get in Maddy's way and signal her to back off. He gave his hair a few rough rubs with the towel and then pulled it off. His hair was a spikey mess of dark brown. He sighed and put his head down on the counter for a minute before breathing in sharply and sitting up straight like nothing had happened to him. He seemed to notice me then; our eyes met and my heart skipped a beat. At least I think our eyes met; it was hard to tell with his glasses I couldn't see his eyes behind them. But it was the powerful aura that had my attention; I prayed that he was on our side.

 **YUICHIRO**

My strength was fading. It was getting harder and harder to stay awake in the cold room with all the other scientists. My plan to gather everyone together to keep warm wasn't working the way I had hoped; it was just getting colder and colder by the second. Even the light from the emergency lanterns seemed cold. I wanted to curl up and cover my head until it all went away. But I couldn't do that; I needed to stay calm and strong for everyone here. All the other scientists could lose their minds in this cold but I had to stay strong. I felt like crying, my mind was filled with so much regret and frustration. But I kept a straight face.

' _I don't want to die, not like this.'_

It was getting quieter. At first everyone had been talking to keep each other awake. But now, they were all succumbing to the cold. There was no way that the staff trapped in the outer labs was still alive. Not when they were dying here. I kept thinking of Haruka; left alone to die. A memory of her smiling flashed in my mind and I couldn't help but shed a few tears. I wished that I was with her, holding her close and telling her that everything was going to be ok. I wish I was there for her this time so she didn't have to be alone; so I didn't have to be alone.

It was getting colder; I couldn't feel it though. I couldn't feel anything anymore; my whole body had gone numb. There was ice in my hair and on my clothes. I had refused a blanket when it was offered to me; I had wanted all the others to have as much of a chance to get out of this alive. But now, that sacrifice seemed pointless. I couldn't even tell if the people in the room were still alive or not. I was so tired. I couldn't even finish a thought anymore. I tried calling out to anyone in the room to see if they were still alive, but I couldn't make a sound. I let out a long sigh of defeat and finally closed my eyes.

 _'I guess this is it…Now it's the Hikari legacy to die in this place…'_

 **FAMOUS**

I finally made it to the lights. I couldn't think straight or see straight, all I could think about was that I needed to get through the door and then I'd be ok. I took a few clumsy steps and then threw all my weight into the door. I hit it a lot harder than I meant to and it crashed open loudly. Four people looked up at me as I stood in the door way; my knees felt weak but I willed myself to stay on my feet. A woman with pink hair ran towards me and put her arm around my chest, it was enough for me to lose my concentration, and my whole body went limp from exhaustion.

The woman and a blond haired man helped me over to the counter and into a chair. I was grateful that I still had the strength to at least sit there. I quickly took in my surroundings while they fussed over me.

 _'Two men and two women. This blond girl looks like she had been out in the storm. They don't seem much of a threat…'_

I was suddenly jerked out of my train of thought as the pink haired woman threw a towel over my head. She started to dry my hair very gently but I decided that was enough of that and did it myself. I was still trying to find anything that would be of use to me.

 _'Damn, looks like a regular shop. Maybe I'll find something interesting on their network.'_

I pulled the towel off my head, and in one fluid gesture grabbed my PET from the holster on my hip under the cover and pulled it into my lap. Running my hand slowly under the counter, I quickly found a port to jack into.

I sighed and put my head down on the counter; shifting the towel a little so I could see my PET's screen.

' _What's this now? Seems I might have stumbled across something interesting.'_

Three netnavies that I recognized as Elecman, Wackoman, and Magicman: these people were old World Three operatives. But one was missing; Torchman and his netop. He was starting to guess that the rumor that Tourchman was deleted was true.

 _'Perfect this is going to have to be it.'_

I drew in a sharp breath and sat back up, trying to force strength back into my body and looked everyone in the eye. I looked at the blond girl last; our eyes met and I felt something I hadn't felt in some time. My heart skipped a beat but this was different than when normal people feel their heart skip a beat. I felt a power radiating off her. Her eyes went wide and I knew she felt the same thing radiating off me.

 _'That's rare, wonder who she is; that aura is almost overwhelming.'_

"Some weather huh;" I started just trying to break the silence, "so what are all your names?" I asked, kicking myself for being so awkward with people. I liked computers; computers never stared at you like you were some kind of freak. They were much easier to talk to and they couldn't lie.

"It's rude to ask for a name without giving one first." The man I now knew to be called Yahoot said, handing me a mug of tea. I accepted it to be polite but put it down, never taking my eyes off him. I knew who these three were. Maddy, Count Zap and Yahoot; their leader.

"It's also rude to already know almost everyone's name to begin with." I replied sternly. My wits were coming back and I couldn't help but feel anxious being surrounded.

"So you know us then? We still don't know who you are, so why not make it an even playing field." Maddy said, slowly easing her way over to Yahoot.

I kept my mouth shut, waiting. It was already a delicate situation, made worse by the fact that I was going to need their help and they already didn't trust me. Then the girl next to me cleared her throat and looked down into her empty mug.

"I know who he is." She said quietly, not looking up, "he's the guy who just hacked you're whole shop."

 **MARGARET**

That made him smile, which in turn made the powerful aura I was sensing seem a lot less menacing. I did slightly recognize him; I couldn't put his face to a name though. "My name is Margaret by the way, and this is Angelman." I said holding the bag of rice up.

"You what!?" Maddy yelled, taking a step away from Yahoot. The man put his hands up in the air; one of which held a PET with a glowing red screen.

"You got me," he said smiling; lowering his hands and putting the PET out where everyone could see. "My name is Famous. I'm just returning home from traveling and I found the city in this state. I'm not an official or anything so don't worry, I just like to help in these situatons."

"What's your last name? Why is your PET glowing like that?" Maddy continued to ask. I knew I recognized him; I had seen him on TV every now and then battling in tournaments.

"It's just Famous. It's glowing because of all the errors that the navi has at the moment."

"What's wrong with it?" I asked, my curiosity growing. It was all coming back to me. This was the netbattler who could control four different and extremely powerful netnavies. On top of that he was supposed to be a genius when it came to building navies; it's said that he can give Yuichiro Hikari a run for his money. And here he was, half frozen sitting next to me in a curry shop, smiling while the whole city died.

"It's not done; it has no soul data and I need to get some." He said standing up to meet Yahoot's glare. "I know your teammate has a navi decomposing somewhere. I can save it in a way if you take me to him."

"And why should we trust you?" Yahoot asked calmly, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"Because this navi is the only one that can save the city. This storm is being caused by a Grave navi. My navi, Heatman, is built specifically to counter Grave's attacks."

"You think this is Grave's doing?" Yahoot asked, shooting a look over to Maddy, who walked out from behind the counter and over to the door.

"I'm sure that it is. I've been on their trail for a little bit now; this is where I lost the signal." Famous said, sitting back down.

Grave; everyone knew who they were. They were the biggest threat out there. There was a small lull in crime after the downfall of World Three about a year ago. Grave had been rather quiet for some time, petty net crime and a few real world crimes. They had been steadily getting bolder with their attacks, but if they were really causing this storm then they were getting serious.

"I think there's something out there." Maddy said from the door, breaking off my chain of thought. We all went and joined her and tried to see what she was talking about.

"I don't see anything." Yahoot said quietly, almost a whisper. We all stood there in silence, staring out into the storm.

"Hey I found some clothes that guy can change into!" Zap yelled from the kitchen. The four of us jumped, forgetting that Zap was still in the building.

"Zap you gave me heart attack what is wrong with you?" Maddy yelled at him hands on her hip. Zap looked like he was going to shout something back but Yahoot shot them a look to be quiet.

"All of you shut up there is something out there." Famous said; hands cupped around his face looking outside. I walked up next to him and squinted out into the storm, I could see something moving around.

"Wait that looks like one of those personal cooler penguin things." I said looking up at Famous. He backed away from the door and looked down at me like he wanted more information. "They just hit the market a few days ago, everyone has one. There these little penguin robots that follow you around and they can manipulate the temperature around you to cool you off."

"So what you're saying is there are hundreds of these things walking around the city, there must be another element that's affecting the weather as well." He said thoughtfully, mostly to himself it seemed. "We need to get to that storage house now."

"You really want to go back out in that?" Maddy said fearfully. I didn't blame her, the storm was getting worse.

"We have to put a stop to this and Torchman's soul data is the key." Famous said to her.

"Why not change out of your wet clothes; you'll just freeze out there if you go back out." Zap said quietly looking down at the floor; not looking to thrilled to go outside.

"There's no time. And there's no need for all of you to come, I just need one person to lead me."

"No, we'll all go. Match isn't going to be thrilled about this. Better to have all of us there to talk him into it." Yahoot said walking up to Famous. "You're sure this will work. We can save the city?"

"I promise, we can fix this." He said. I don't know what it was about him, but I trusted him.

"I'm with you, let's do this." I said running back to grab my bag of rice. I stood by him and met his gaze and flashed him a smile. He smiled back and pulled the door open and we ran back out into the storm with hardly a plan.

 **FAMOUS**

The cold hit me like a truck. I couldn't catch my breath; my whole body felt like it was on fire.

"Famous you ok?" Margaret asked me as she ran past out into the street. None of us had any protection from the cold.

"I'll be fine." I said finally catching my breath, "You guys lead the way and hurry, we won't last long out here."

"Right it's not far from here, just at the other end of the block." Yahoot called out over with howl of the wind as he took the lead.

I was having trouble keeping up with everyone and ended up bringing up the rear of the group. My legs felt heavy and the snow was tripping me up. At the end of the block Yahoot turned down an alley way that had a large metal container at the end of it. My heart sank, there was no way the equipment I needed would be in something like this.

"This is it?" I asked, letting my distaste show.

"Don't judge it yet." Yahoot said pulling a key out of his pocket. He unlocked the door and everyone filed inside.

I closed the door after I stepped through and took a flashlight out of my bag. Luckily it still worked. There were various boxes with random contents. Nothing that looked like what I was looking for. I watched Zap walk over to a corner and pulled up a piece of the floor, revealing a stair case. Everyone headed down, and then I began to see what was going on. As they walked down I saw a large data cylinder with a decomposing navi on display hooked up to a few consoles; exactly what I needed.

"So tell me where you stole this equipment from." I asked out loud to the group.

"Silver complex, SciLab." Maddy answered quietly.

"Not that it's any of your business." A red haired man said stepping out of the shadows. He had a thick Scottish accent laced with a deep sorrow. I recognized him instantly as the one called Mr. Match, Torchman's operator.

"I'm making it my business. You've stolen this equipment from an old friend." I said in retaliation. This was wasting time; I needed a way to talk this guy into giving up on his netnavi. "Listen, my name is Famous. I can save your netnavi if you let me transplant its soul data into this one."

"Oh and you think I'm going to let a complete stranger touch my Torchman? No thank you sir, now all of you go away and leave us alone."

"Please I need his data to save the city. Without it everyone is going to die." I pleaded, I didn't want to have to take this guy out and steal his navi away, but I was starting to feel like I had no choice.

"I said no. Leave us alone." Match said getting up in my face. I felt my heartrate increase, this wasn't going as planned.

"You need to listen to me! The fate of this city is right there; fading away and soon it's going to be too late!" I roared back, losing my patients with this man. That got him. He hit me so hard I lost my balance and fell to the floor. "You're a fool." I gasped out as I tried to catch my breath.

"Match please listen to him." I heard Maddy say from the stairs, "He's the only one who can save Torchman."

I didn't realize how badly the storm had affected me. Getting up off the floor was a struggle; Margaret had come over to help me back up which I found to be confusing.

' _Why is she helping me?'_

Match was still standing there, looking down with his eyes closed. His face betrayed the grief he felt for his friend; it made me feel a little guilty for yelling at him.

"I can save him, and give both of you a shot at revenge." I said quietly to him, nursing my cheek and popping my jaw back in. I couldn't help but wonder if I would be affected like this if anything had happened to one of my navis.

 _'I hope they're all_ _ok.'_

"Fine. Do whatever you want." Match said before storming off.

I didn't waste any time. I ran over to the console and jacked Heatman into it and prepared him for the update.

 _'So much of Torchman's data is gone. This'll have to do though.'_

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Margaret asked quietly walking up to another console. She was looking down at her PET in the bag of rice; worry written all over her face.

"That PET working yet?" I asked her. She pulled it out of the rice and attempted to turn it on, but the screen remained black. "Give it to me."

She handed me the device and I gave it a quick look over while brushing rice off of it. All PET's in this line were blue by default, but this one was white. I could see blue coming through were the paint had worn down.

' _These things are such crap sometimes.'_

I flipped it over and gave it a quick whack. The screen came back to life as the device booted up. I put it down on the console as I waited and went back to compressing what was left of Torchman's data.

"You really think this will work?" She asked quietly eyeing her PET.

"It's going to be a little rough around the edges. But luckily I happen to be an expert; if I can't do it then no one can." I said quietly, trying to concentrate. She didn't say anything after that; she stood there quietly waiting to help.

Her PET booted up after a few minutes and I saw her netnavi she called Angelman. He looked impressive; he had a sharp angular face with grey eyes and long white hair. He wore a gold metal band across his head and silver shoulder pads on top of a white long sleeved tunic. The most notable thing about him was the pair of white wings coming out of his back.

 _'Useless decoration perhaps.'_

"Hey! Who the hell are you? Where's my netop?" He called out to me angrily.

"Ange everything is ok, I'm right here. Just do what he says." She called out, not moving from her spot.

"We will have to do introductions latter," I started pulling out the link cord and jacking him into the console, "I need you to help speed this up, please lend me your processing power."

With Angelman's help the process sped up significantly, soon after I was uploading Torchman's data to Heatman. Things still felt like they weren't moving fast enough, I was chewing on my thumb watching the progress bar; all eyes on me. Always on display; at least this time I was going to look like the hero rather than the problem.

"How is he?" Match said walking over hesitantly.

"He's coming along. I think you two will be pleased with the upgrades. I just hope we aren't too late." I said not looking away from the screen. I shoved my hands into my pocket and rocked on my heels a few times; my anxiety growing. I reached into my bag and grabbed another PET, the screen was empty. I navigated my way through all the menus until I found what I was looking for, the temperature.

 _'Negative fifty-four, this isn't moving fast enough.'_

"So after this, you're going to run off with my navi's soul?" He asked flatly. Walking up to the cylinder where Heatman was displayed.

"No, he's your netnavi. I wouldn't be able to control him even if I wanted to." I said thoughtfully. Match walked back over and looked at the monitor over my shoulder quietly.

"Well, if that's the case…" My reaction time was suffering, he shoved me out of the way and I lost my footing. "Heatman wake up! We've got work to do!"

"Match don't! He's not ready!" I called from the floor, my strength draining. I was at the end of my rope; I could hardly prop myself up on my elbows.

"Thank you for giving us this second chance, but we'll take it from here! Heatman, battle routine! Set!"

"Execute!" I heard the netnavi call out before he disappeared into the net.

That was it, nothing more I could do for the situation but hope that I was good enough. I lay down and gave up my struggle and let the darkness take me. In my last cognitive strands of thought my mind went to him. I knew he was out in this mess somewhere; hopefully doing better than me.

' _Yuichiro…please be ok.'_

 **YUICHIRO**

"Dr. Hikari!"

' _Who is that? Who's calling my name?'_

I ignored it; I was having the best dream. My father was standing there looking just like how I remembered him when I was younger. Strong but kind; with a mess of curly grey hair with the brightest smile I've ever seen. I didn't look anything like him; everyone said I looked like my mother. I wouldn't know; I never met her.

"Yuichiro what happened to your eye?" I heard him say.

"I got into a fight after school." I said weakly never looking away from his face.

"Why what happened?" He said coming down to my level. I was fifteen in this memory; half way through high school.

"He was getting picked on again." I said, acknowledging the younger boy behind me. He was almost my height despite being younger. He was watching the scene from the entry way of the house with his crimson eyes; no expression on his white face. He ran his hands through his snow white hair when my father looked over to him. He always got picked on because he was albino; no one ever stood up for him, only I did.

"They were making fun of you again?" My father asked, walking over to the boy and pulling him into a hug, "I'm so sorry."

"Dr. Hikari open your eyes!"

' _Please go away, I want to sleep.'_ But the memory was already gone.

"Dr. Hikari! He's not waking up; we need to get him to the hospital, we can't treat him here."

' _I can't go to the hospital, I need to find them.'_ I could feel warmth moving through my body. _'That's right; they were out in that storm. I have to find them.'_

My eyes fluttered open, slowly adjusting to the lights. I couldn't move or speak; but the man standing above me saw that my eyes were open.

"Hey! He's waking up!" He called out to someone I couldn't see. The feeling was getting stronger; I could move my hands a little.

Pain shot through my face as someone shined a bright light into my eyes. There were blankets on me and I was lying flat on the ground.

"What's your name?" A woman asked me, shoving something in my ear.

 _'What's happening, who are these people. Why are the lights on?'_

"Yuichiro Hikari." I answered weakly, "what's happening?"

"You're going to be alright Dr. Hikari, the hospital is full unfortunately so we are treating all the survivors here." She said looking at what I realized to have been a thermometer. "Your core temperature is steadily making its way back up. Can you move?"

With great effort I managed to pull myself up, my head was spinning. I looked around the room, it was a grim sight. Some of his people were covered in blankets, others in body bags. My thoughts went to the outer labs.

' _She said survivors, meaning that there must be victims.'_

"How many victims are there?" I asked, trying to put some authority into my weak voice.

"The final count isn't in yet." She answered sadly. I didn't press her further, I didn't want to know. "I'll be right back."

I watched her walk away and kneel down by someone else. I needed to move; to get out of here. My family was out there.

' _I have to find them. There's nothing more I can do here.'_

I struggled to stand up, but eventually the strength came back to me. Several EMTs ran over to me in alarm; telling me to lie back down. I waved them off, and headed out of the conference room. Moving became easier, a welcomed feeling. The power was back on and EMT's were running through the halls, some had stretchers with body bags on them. I tried not to think about it, not yet.

' _I'll be here for all of them after I find Lan and Haruka.'_

I got down to the lobby, the sun was shining through the windows; one of them had shattered and the glass was all over the floor. There were puddles everywhere. I glanced outside and saw that most of the snow was gone. There were ambulances and trucks everywhere. I looked away quickly, not wanting to see what was going on at the outer labs. I walked over to the desk and picked up the phone; there was a dial tone now. I quickly dialed the house's number; every unanswered ring made me panic more.

"Hello?" A female voice answered quietly. I lost it; I fell to the floor crying just hearing her voice, knowing she was ok. "Yuichiro is that you?" I could hear her crying on the other side.

"Yes it's me, I'm alright." I managed to say between the sobs; her voice was the most beautiful thing at that moment, "have you heard from Lan?"

"No, this morning he went to Yai's house with everyone. No one is there; I don't know where he is." Her panic was plain as day. Lan had a terrible habit of finding trouble.

"I'll find him, don't worry. I'll call you once I have him. I love you." I said, hoping that I sounded reassuring.

"Love you too."

I hung up and dialed Lan's number, he picked up immediately.

"Hey dad what's up?" I heard him say; I was at a loss for words. I felt relieved hearing his voice, but then anger for having been worried sick about him and he sounded like he missed the whole thing.

"Where are you?" I asked trying to control my temper.

"I'm at Number One Curry. Dad did you see what happened? The whole city was covered in snow. And then this navi that looked like a lighter came in and defeated the netnavi responsible like he was nothing! Who has that kind of power? Dad?"

I wasn't listening; I was too busy finding out where this curry place was and I knew that I'd here this story a few more times. Another wave of anger hit me; the curry shop was in the middle of the city. Lan found his way right into the heart of the storm.

' _Are all children like this or just mine? I swear I never did this when I was his age.'_

"Lan just stay there please, I'm on my way. Just don't leave ok?"

"Ok, we'll be here." I heard the click as Lan hung up on me. I sighed just happy that I found him, if not annoyed with his recklessness. I called Haruka back to tell her that I found him and would be home soon.

I walked out of the building and made my way off the campus towards the metro station, wondering if it would be running yet.

 **MARGARET**

"Famous! Famous wake up!" I called out, holding him in my arms. He was still unconscious and it had been an hour since Heatman won the fight. Maddy, Zap, and Yahoot had headed back to the curry shop already. Match was waiting with me.

"Stop yelling I'm alright." Famous said, rubbing his forehead. I felt relieved that he was ok. Me and Match helped him to his feet. "What happened?"

"Your Heatman won, you were right; the guy is a power house." Match said, handing Famous his empty PET. He took it and put it in his bag. I looked over at him, he seemed really pale.

"Come on let's get out of here," I offered hoping that we would start to feel better outside, "Yahoot said he was going to make us all a hot meal to celebrate the victory."

Famous wordlessly made his way to the stairs, leaving me behind.

"Rude." I heard Angelman say quietly.

"Hey we all just went through something, everyone handles it differently." I scolded him as I made my way back up to the surface.

The sun was out and most of the snow was melting. There were a few people running on the streets and the occasional ambulance whizzed by. In the sunlight Famous looked white as a ghost; though I was sure I didn't look much better. The three of us made our way back to the curry shop in silence. The shop was crowded with teenagers; one of them was yelling at Yahoot who in turn was ignoring him.

"If you don't like the fact that we own this shop then you can leave." Maddy yelled back at him, pointing to the door we were walking through.

"Mr. Match is here too? What are you four up to with this shop? And who are they? More World Three agents I bet!" The young boy was shouting. His friends were sitting in the booth behind him keeping quiet. He must have been thirteen or fourteen; he had spikey brown hair and a blue bandana on and was wearing tan shorts and a black t-shirt.

"Once again you don't like it you can leave!" Maddy yelled back.

"I can't leave, I told my dad I would stay here!"

"Then shut up and sit down." Match said quietly.

I heard Famous groan his displeasure at all the commotion. I grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the counter. He let me lead him and we sat down; doing our best to ignore the teen.

"Lan you're going blind man," one of his friends called out. It was a rather large boy with a Mohawk wearing a green t-shirt, "You didn't even notice who walked in with Mr. Match."

I saw Famous' knee bouncing slightly; weather out of nervousness or annoyance I couldn't be sure. The teen stopped yelling and looked over at us; a huge smile spreading across his face. It was a nice warm smile, backed by the excitement that you only ever feel as a kid.

"Lan please try to control yourself, they've been through a lot today just like us." A small voice said from his hip. At the mention of the name Famous' head shot up and he stared at the boy.

"What's your name?" He asked him.

"Lan." The boy replied, almost sheepishly, "Lan Hikari."

After everything that we had been through since meeting him, I finally saw Famous scared. I couldn't figure out what was causing his fear. Everyone knew the name Hikari, they were good people. I put two and two together and realized that this must be the famous Yuichiro Hikari's son. Famous tried to get up but tripped over the chair landing hard on his side. I went over to him to help him up, but my attention went to the door as it slowly opened. There was a man standing there, it was my turn to be star struck. It was Dr. Hikari. He took a few steps into the shop and was immediately tackled by his son; who was giggling like a small child.

"I'm so glad you're ok son." Dr. Hikari said to Lan pulling away from the embrace to take in the room. He noticed Famous down on the floor who had gone ridged. Their eyes met and I could feel the tension in the air. Dr. Hikari walked up to us and glared down at Famous.

"Get up." Dr. Hikari said to him coldly. Ignoring everyone else in the room. "Get up and let me see you."

Famous slowly got up, looking down the entire time. I saw that he was slightly shaking, almost like he was scared.

"Listen I know-" Famous started but Dr. Hikari threw his hands up to silence him, taking a few steps towards him. Famous took a step back and bumped into me, startling himself.

"Be quiet, you don't get to talk." He said in the same cold tone. They stared at each other for a few more seconds; silent.

I had to remind myself to breath; I felt my body tensing ready to get out of the way. It looked like Dr. Hikari was debating whether or not to hit Famous. Then, faster than I could see, Dr. Hikari had a hand in Famous' hair and was dragging him out of the shop back into the street. They both turned out of view, leaving us all in shock.

"Lan I think your dad is going to kill him." The large boy said quietly.

 **FAMOUS**

It felt like Yuichiro was going to rip the hair out of my head. Once we turned away from the shop and down an alley he stopped walking and roughly threw me into a wall. I did my best to stay up but I still fell down to one knee.

"Stand up." He told me; cold as ice.

"I didn't realize your son was in there until it was too late. I tried to get out but I tripped." I stammered, praying that he wasn't going to hit me. He just kept glaring at me. I felt like running; but I knew I wouldn't get far in this state.

"What are you talking about?"

"You told me to stay away from your family. I didn't realize it was him. I-"

"Are you kidding me you think that's what I'm angry about?"

"Yes?" I didn't know what to do. I hated these things, people drilling into me. We didn't leave things well all those years ago. I knew that I had wanted to find him, but I wanted to do it on my terms; not like this.

"Not once in the ten years you were running around being an idiot did it ever occur to you that you should pick up a phone and tell your brother that you were alive?" Yuichiro said quietly almost sadly. "Thank god I saw you parading around on the TV at some tournament years ago."

' _What? Did he just call me his brother?'_

"Adopted," I corrected him, like I always did. I was no Hikari, just some kid that they took in. "And it was rather clear that you wanted nothing to do with me."

"I called you once a week for two years!" He yelled, ignoring my correction. His hand shot up to his face and he massaged his forehead as he began to pace back and forth. "I mean seriously? Ten years Famous. Ten years! I thought you were dead! We lost dad and then I lost a son and then my little brother that I was supposed to be looking after ran off in the night because…because of me." He finished quietly, looking at me with sad eyes.

I didn't know what to make of the situation. It was almost too much for me at the moment. He kept calling me his brother, something I thought was in the past. It made me happy but at the same time it bothered me a little. I always felt weird when he called me his brother. We had been friends before I was orphaned; our parents were best friends so naturally we tolerated each other. Tadashi took me in after the fire, made me feel like I was his own son.

"Famous pay attention." Yuichiro snapped.

"I don't know what you want me to say Yuichiro. I did just save the city so it's been a long day for me, so please forgive me for being a little out of it." I said quietly; letting my wit take the reins for a moment. I just wanted him to stop looking at me like that; like I mattered.

"I'm sorry Famous; for what I said that night. The next morning I went out looking for you everywhere, but you were already gone."

"I packed up and left that night. I just had to leave; it wasn't just what you said." I told him, hoping that he would believe me. "I'm sorry I never got in touch Yuichiro, I wanted to but I was scared. But I'm back now; I'm not going anywhere any time soon. I promise I'll make it up to you."

He pulled me into a bear hug; crying. He was always the one crying, and I was the one always trying to keep it together.

"Any chance I could get my old job back since I have your attention?" I asked smiling. He was laughing and beaming at me.

"I've got the perfect job for you."


End file.
